Well, it’s time to say goodbye to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song. Stephen Colbert shows us the right way to bid it adieu:

Too bad it’s the Maple Leafs instead of our beloved Canucks, but check out the new Mike Myers film called The Love Guru, featuring hockey:

Worth seeing?

This one has to be seen to be believed. Amazingly, Rob Davison of the New York Islanders fires a clearing shot out of his zone at the goal line during a penalty kill, and it’s a flutterball. As it goes end over end down the ice, it manages to take a weird bounce and goes up and over Toskala’s left pad. Amazing, and embarrassing for the poor goaltender.

This has got to be the most pathetic hockey fight I’ve ever seen.

Hat tip to Tim.

Brian Campbell of the San Jose Sharks pulled a spin-o-rama on the defenseman in the high slot, then took a beautiful backhand shot. Check it out:

(Via james mirtle.)

Have you seen this video of Ryan Smyth of the Colorado Avalanche being run into a Stanchion?

Would this happen in the beer leagues? Possibly, but most likely not. In my league, at least, it’s an instant penalty if you step onto the ice without your helmet done up, and done up snugly.

If the NHL is going to so far as to mandate helmets (which they’ve been doing for years now), and even mandate that referees wear them, why not go the extra mile and ensure that they are used in a safe and responsible way?

Maybe I’m the wrong person to talk to about this, but I also think that shields and/or cages should be mandatory. But that’s another post.

[via Tom Benjamin]

The other night a hockey fan named Darwin Head got the chance of a lifetime: to shoot for one million dollars.

Standing at center ice at General Motors Place in Vancouver, Darwin needs to shoot 20 pucks in 24 seconds, and score at least 15 of them.

Check out how he did:

[Via James Mirtle]

Jarkko Ruutu spent a number of years as a Vancouver Canucks, and though he’s the type of player you love to hate when he plays for the other team, he was a blast to watch in a Canucks uniform.

Not known as a scoring player so much as a shit-disturber, Jarkko has somehow managed to pull off a few highlight-reel shootout goals in his time. The most recent was from the other night against the Ottawa Senators. Watch how slowly he comes into the zone (usually the worst thing you can do), then how he stretches out with one hand to direct the puck in:

Now, if you’re a Canucks fan like me, you might remember Ruutu’s “leg kick” move back when the shootout was first put into place:

Gotta love players like Ruutu.

If there’s something we love here at BLH, it’s classic hockey clips. This one happened just the other night, but is destined to become a classic. Jonathan Toews (pronounced “Taves”) of the Chicago Blackhawks takes a breakout pass from a defenceman just outside his zone, then proceeds to split 3 players from the other team and stuff the puck in past goalie Jose Theodore of the Colorado Avalanche.

This is one of those clips that happens so fast if you blink you’ll have missed it. Good thing we have slow-motion replays. Click here for a link to the clip on YouTube if you’re unable to watch the embedded version.

[via James Mirtle]

The Vancouver Canucks offer 16 games a season on pay-per-view, and the broadcasts are produced by “Canucks TV”. This year they’ve decided to offer two pre-season games for free, broadcast on Rogers SportsNet. I can only imagine that the idea here is to show Canucks fans what they’re missing if they’re not shelling out the big bucks for the pay-per-view games.

Unfortunately, based on the first one I’m definitely not impressed. While San Jose’s Shark Tank is certainly not the greatest rink with respect to camera location, the camera work in general was terrible. It seemed like they only had two cameras in the entire rink, and the whole broadcast was just flat. Vancouver personality Don Taylor did the play-by-play, and as much as his act works great for highlight reels, Canucks TV probably should have gone with either Jim Hughson, or simulcast the Team 1040 broadcast with John Shorthouse. Unfortunately simulcasts are a pain, and my bet is Canucks TV can’t afford Hughson (or he may be contractually prevented from doing it).

In any event, at this point I’d have to recommend that Canucks fans save their money and just listen to the pay-per-view games on the radio. And don’t get me started about the fact that the premium pay-per-view games aren’t offered in High Definition. Gary Bettman, you want to fix the NHL? Look at some of the obvious stuff like this.